The Arms of Roesone

[LeifVignirsson]

Not sure if this goes here but I want to run this by everyone and get their opinion on the matter.

I have a character that is quite beloved of mine that was based out of Roesone. I managed to get him to be a beloved friend of the Baroness and quite accomplished at the art of war. As her "champion", he was charged with finding the Arms of Roesone, which he did after some skillful hunting.

My question is this, seeing that I have converted him but not the arms, what would you say would be the proper conversion for these items?

Full Plate Mail +2 (w/ gold filigree and the black hart)
Rhynact, bastard sword +1, flametongue
Shield +2 w/ aura of courage (+1 to morale checks)

Plate Mail I am not having an issue with, it is the other two that I would be... Thoughts? Opinions?

DISCLAIMER: This information is pulled off of the Player's Secrets of Roesone, incase someone was unaware.

[Question]

Converted him.....from/to what again?

[ausrick]

The armor would be full-plate +2, (maybe make it out of mithril as per the dmg so it would have the weight and encumberance stats of the dwarven plate in the DMG, if mithril doesn't exist in your campaign, just make it a rare and unknown metal)

The sword would probably be a +1 flaming burst bastard sword.

The shield would be a +2 large metal shield that functions as an Amulet of Inspiration when all three peices are posessed.

This is just what I would do to preserve the flavour and possibly bump the powerlevel just a wee bit to feel more d20 and like the relic those arms should be. I know I got a little Diablo-2-esque with the shields main flavour ability being pumped a bit but only functioning with the set, but hey, I kinda liked it.

BRCS playtest, wonderous items:

Amulet of Inspiration:

This item provides a +4 bonus to allLead checks, and a +1 bonus to domain resolution checks for the Agitate action. A military unit led by the wielder of this amulet receives a +4 bonus to its morale.

Question, to answer your question, the Players Secrets of Roesone that mentions the ancestral arms of Daene Roesone is a 2nd Edition, AD&D printed supplement to Birthright. I got the impression that Leif was playing a 3.5/d20 rulebased BR campaign and wanted to know ideas of what to make them. Most 2nd Edition magic items can be directly translated, but seem just a little bland to the magic items of d20, so I was assuming he was looking for ideas of just that little bit of spice to brighten them up but not enough to make them Uber magic items or campaign imbalancing, while maintaining if not enhancing flavour.

[LeifVignirsson]

Question, to answer your question, the Players Secrets of Roesone that mentions the ancestral arms of Daene Roesone is a 2nd Edition, AD&D printed supplement to Birthright. I got the impression that Leif was playing a 3.5/d20 rulebased BR campaign and wanted to know ideas of what to make them. Most 2nd Edition magic items can be directly translated, but seem just a little bland to the magic items of d20, so I was assuming he was looking for ideas of just that little bit of spice to brighten them up but not enough to make them Uber magic items or campaign imbalancing, while maintaining if not enhancing flavour.[/size][/font][font=TimesNewRoman][size=2]

Yes, thank you... Sometimes I forget myself when I make these posts to be a little more discriptive. Thank you for your input on this, that is something I am looking for. Now, here is another question. That Bastard Sword seems a little, eh, especially with a metal shield... In other words, thinks might get all wonky with it after a few minutes so I wonder if I can downgrade it to a longsword or something more "one handed", to use the 3.0 term. Thoughts?

[irdeggman]

Bastard sword can be used one handed with the exotic weapon - bastard sword feat. This is a common feat taken by fighters, at least per the sample characters in the books.



Since the arms were "designed" for a fighter then it makes sense they should be harder to use for other classes.

And a bastard sword is a much more Anuirean weapon than is a long sword.

[ausrick]

Uh, What Irdeggman said, he beat me to it, the exotic weapon proficiency feat.

Long sword could work, but it doesn't quite have the feel of a leader's weapon. Longswords seem more of what a soldier would carry whereas hand-and-a-half swords seem more knightly. Thats just my opinion, there may be fact to back it up but I haven't really researched it. I do know though that when I've been to museums, especially in England. If they had a normal sized sword it was usually labeled as "a sword from Agincourt" or something of that matter, but the huge impressive ones always seemed to be king so-and-so's sword. If you were to make it a longsword though, I would think about upping it to +3 maybe, or add keen, just because it has such a cool name and is supposed to be impressive. That would help it overcome any issues of "sword envy"

[Question]

Its my understanding that elemental burst weapons were a very bad idea as the burst doesnt discriminate between friendly and unfriendly.

Imagine striking an enemy in an army battle and the burst wiping out the rest of your unit.

[ausrick]

Flaming Burst

A flaming burst weapon functions as a flaming weapon that also explodes with flame upon striking a successful critical hit.

The fire does not harm the hands that hold the weapon. Flaming burst weapons deal +1d10 points of bonus fire damage on a

successful critical hit. If the weapon’s critical multiplier is x3, add +2d10 points of bonus fire damage instead, and if the

multiplier is x4, add +3d10 points of bonus fire damage. Bows, crossbows, and slings so enchanted bestow the fire energy upon

their ammunition.

Caster Level: 12th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor and flame blade, flame strike, or fireball; Market Price: +2

bonus.

My understanding is that it just does extra damage on a critical hit. But, I see how one could interpret burst as having an area effect, though it would have to have a radius assigned to it, probably taking up 5ft diameter (one square) or at most 20ft Radius like a fireball spell. Either way, an Area of Effect sword sounds dangerous and powerful. If that was your intterpretation that your group gamed by, then by all means downgrade it to only a "flaming" sword. In my opinion elemental burst weapons aren't worth the market price modifier of +2 anyways, but as found treasure thats not so much of an issue, just as a player I would rather use that additonal +1 market value to make it keen or add a second elemental damage to it if I was the one having to spend the GP and XP to craft it.

[ausrick]

Just some corrections to my post before anyone finds too much fault with it, just want to clarify.

When I said all it does "is" extra damage on a critical hit", I didn't mean all as in all, I meant as opposed to area effect. I know that a burst weapon still does the 1d6 elemental damage on any kind of hit.

As for when a person might make a burst weapon, there are times. If you had a weapon that had a really large crit window, like a Kukri, and you had keen on it and improved critical feat, and you were the Kensei class from Oriental Adventures, because thats the version that gets increased critical multipliers as an ability, then I can see someone running the numbers and being able to tell that that would hurt. So it isn't that the +2 modifier is never worth it for a burst weapon, just not "most of the time"

[irdeggman]

Note that the "burst" only occurs on a confirmed critical hit and that damage is added to the damage done to the targer - so I think it is pretty clear it is "not" an area effect.



From the SRD:

[quoteFlaming: Upon command, a flaming weapon is sheathed in fire. The fire does not harm the wielder. The effect remains until another command is given. A flaming weapon deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage on a successful hit. Bows, crossbows, and slings so crafted bestow the fire energy upon their ammunition.


Moderate evocation; CL 10th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor and flame blade, flame strike, or fireball; Price +1 bonus.

Flaming Burst: A flaming burst weapon functions as a flaming weapon that also explodes with flame upon striking a successful critical hit. The fire does not harm the wielder. In addition to the extra fire damage from the flaming ability (see above), a flaming burst weapon deals an extra 1d10 points of fire damage on a successful critical hit. If the weapon’s critical multiplier is x3, add an extra 2d10 points of fire damage instead, and if the multiplier is x4, add an extra 3d10 points of fire damage. Bows, crossbows, and slings so crafted bestow the fire energy upon their ammunition.

Even if the flaming ability is not active, the weapon still deals its extra fire damage on a successful critical hit.


Strong evocation; CL 12th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor and flame blade, flame strike, or fireball; Price +2 bonus.[/quote]